Patti Smith

The Godmother of Punk was born on December 30, 1946 in Chicago, Illinois. Patricia Lee or Patti Smith was a poet, novelist, singer-songwriter, and artist. She influenced the punk movement in New York City with Horses that debuted in1975.
Her best song is Because the Night written with Bruce Springsteen. It was number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1978. In 2007 Patti was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and on November 17, 2010 she was awarded the National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids. She has also received the 2011 Polar Music Prize.
In 1975 Patti Smith was a solo performer and worked with Kenny Kaye, Ivan Kral and Jay Dee Daugherty plus Richard Sohl. They recorded Hey Joe/Piss Factory in 1974. The Patti Smith Group signed with Arista Records and in 1975 and recorded Horses that fused punk rock and poetry. The group's second album Radio Ethiopia reflected a raw sound and was not as well received as Horses. Patti produced Easter in 1978 which contained the single Because the Night with Bruce Springsteen. Wave in 1979 was not as successful though Dancing Barefoot still receive commercial airplay.
Patti married Fred Sonic Smith in 1980 and they had a son, Jackson and a daughter Meg. Patti went into semi-retirement talking care of her family. In 1988 she released Dream of Life and the single People Have the Power. Fred died in November 1994. Patti moved back to New York and toured temporarily with Bob Dylan in 1995.
From 2004 to the present Patti is still singing and releasing music albums. In 2004 she released Trampin. She was named Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. This lead to a literary lecture in 2005 about the poems of Arthur Rimbaud. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 and dedicated her award to Fred.
Patti's album Banga was released in June 2012 with critical acclaim. She provides the lead vocals on Red Hot Chili Peppers Fela's debut solo album Helen Burns. She is still performing, writing poetry and books.